In May we celebrated our 4th Birthday with tea and cake and our AGM. We looked back at all the fun we had last year and enjoyed a wonderful slide show of images from the last 12 months and planned for new and exciting adventures ahead. Thanks to our Middlesex Federation representatives who helped the proceedings go smoothly. We had a lively discussion and voted on the resolution Mental Health Matters and committee member Sara will be taking our vote to the National AGM in Cardiff in June and will report back at June’s meeting.

2018 marks 100 years since some women gained the right to vote. Although the Beast From The East interrupted our week we were very glad to be able to celebrate International Women’s Day with a talk from The Fawcett Society. Angie from East London Fawcett came and gave a very interesting and stimulating talk starting with the origins of the Fawcett Society and the suffragists, led by Millicent Fawcett, and gave us an insight into their current campaigns and research around gender inequality.

We had a lively debate following the talk and also had the opportunity to see for the first time our De Beauvoir WI banner which we then proudly accompanied on the March4Women on Sunday. The banner was then displayed outside the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 8th (International Women’s Day) and appeared on stage at the Royal Festival Hall at Mirth Control alongside Sandy Toksvig and other inspirational women on Sunday 11th March.

A huge thank you to Hackney Archives who came along to our February meeting to talk about their work. They collect, preserve and provide access to records that contribute to our understanding of Hackney’s socio-economic and cultural identity.

The archive was started in 1882 by John Tyson, a Hackney land owner who donated his library. The archive was located in the Old Shoreditch Library in 1965 and in 2012 they moved to a specially designed public space in CLR James Library, Dalston Square.

The oldest document in the archive was written in Latin and dates back to 1356.

They hold over 17,000 images in the form of paintings, drawings and photographs, a small proportion of which can be seen online. Picture postcards, documenting the changes in De Beauvoir over time, are held here as well as photos of bomb damaged properties (see below) and photos of the streets pre clearance to develop the De Beauvoir Estate can also be seen.

They hold a huge collection of maps providing a major source of information on how the area has developed over time . Along with ‘Street Directories’ which were published between 1840-1930 giving list of residents and the drain surveys which began in 1856 – all hold a vast amount of knowledge about the footprint of individual properties.

They also welcome volunteers to help them catalogue for various projects.

From pretty in pink through the night before Christmas and all manner of festive fondant foliage inbetween, we rolled, crimped and decorated a whole host of Christmas cakes at our December meeting. Icing sugar flying while we indulged in a seasonal glass of wine and munched on mince pies, a wonderful array of completely individual cakes exited the building at the end of the night.

A huge thanks goes to our talented member, Lynn Brooks for guiding us through the art of working with fondant. Here are some pictures of just a handful of the creative concoctions that emerged throughout the meeting plus a lovely picture of Lynn showing us the ropes.

An additional thanks to all from our membership and our community who donated gift sets for the women at Solace Women’s Aid refuge – see above for just a portion of all the gifts that were delivered to Solace …

What a great night of general knowledge quizzing at our Wise Bird’s Quiz Night. Congratulations to the winning team the Purple Pansies who shot through in the last round and proved themselves to be the wisest birds in the room. We also put our heads together on the upcoming Plastic Soup resolution and came up with some great ideas for taking the campaign forward into next year.

Thanks to all the fabulous bakers who provided a feast of goodies and a huge thanks to Nichola and Victoria for all their hard work putting the quiz together. Who knew tube station emoji’s could be so elusive.

It started on Valentines day when De Beauvoir woke up to find the cycle path outside St. Peters had been yarnbombed. The bollards had a knitted cover and the newly planted trees either side where decorated with knitting and hearts. Anyone who saw it felt very loved.

Next up was International Women’s Day when the other end of Northchurch Road, on the junction of Southgate, was decorated with tiny pink pussy hats and the slogan of this year’s theme: ‘Be bold 4 Change’. No-one has yet owned up to being the mysterious knitter (or more likely knitters) and the secret is causing a stir. Local press coverage rang up our WI looking to solve the mystery of the Banksy style yarnbombers. Whoever they are – they can certainly knit! #debeauvoirk2p2